Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

In my day, never was longer.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

How can republicans represent us when they don’t trust women?

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

The willow is too close to the house.

No Justins, No Peace

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Reader Interactions

107Comments

  1. 1.

    Adam L Silverman

    BettyC, You don’t have to pull your post just because we had the same idea at the same time! I was just writing you an apology comment in the now vanished entry apologizing for underbigfooting you.

  2. 2.

    Ruviana

    Lol, I was going to try to post the same exact first comment on this and Betty’s post but she pulled hers. It was an observation about how great front pagers think alike.

  4. 4.

    Betty Cracker

    @Adam L Silverman: No worries. I have a feeling we’ll need additional refuges from the madness in the hours and days to come, so now I have one stockpiled for later!

  7. 7.

    MattF

    Saw ‘The Lobster’ this afternoon. Quite a movie. Don’t ask me whether I ‘liked’ it.

  8. 8.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Betty Cracker: Good, because the only stuff I’ve get left is a week and two day overdue obit post on Dave Swarbrick, who died the same day as Ali, one for Gordie Howe, who died Friday, and several clips from the soon to be released in the US horror film The Clown that I’ve been tormenting Miss Bianca with offline as a running gag.

  14. 14.

    Corner Stone

    @Adam L Silverman:

    the soon to be released in the US horror film The Clown that I’ve been tormenting Miss Bianca with offline as a running gag.

    You can bet my sweet bippy I will be studiously avoiding that fucking monstrosity.

  16. 16.

    Corner Stone

    @MattF: As Adam is fond of saying, if that’s your kink then sell all your worldly goods and devote yourself to a non-stop tour that celebrates it until you finally die penniless, old, alone and broken as a non-recognizable human being to friends and family that once embraced your zest for life!

  18. 18.

    Corner Stone

    @Villago Delenda Est: I’m a big fan of the underboob. Also the side boob. Actually, now that I reflect on it I find I am a fan of the boob. And I do not mean the nominee for president on the R side.

  21. 21.

    Omnes Omnibus

    Watching An American in Paris and avoiding any TV channel that could have news on it. Yesterday was a picnic, wine, and The Comedy of Errors at APT with friends and family.

  22. 22.

    Alain the site fixer

    Yes, thanks to Adam and Betty for their hard work. This is just so horrible I can’t even say. I’ll be doing the site maintenance tomorrow, thus kinda threw my whole morning into hell. This site’s discussions on this have been my major source of info as I try to avoid our tabloid media. Thanks to everybody who’s adding info and helping advance our collective understanding of this. I just fear that soon we’ll be hearing that one or more readers have been directly affected. That just brings it closer; it’s horrible enough and at a scale that’s hard to wrap my head around except by turning off emotions.

  26. 26.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @redshirt: Well, since his first offenses were committed when I was quite a young child, I can’t really speak to that.

  28. 28.

    MomSense

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    Not the only one. Clowns are scary.

    Had a lovely walk with my son and pup in the woods today. Then we sat outside watching the birds politely take turns at the feeder while we read.

    We did have a bit of excitement at the end of our walk when a fisher climbed down from a tree very close to us. It had something in its mouth but we couldn’t tell what it was. The dog went into hyper protective mode and was doing her harmonica barking. The growling sound on the inhalation is scarier than the bark!

  34. 34.

    lamh36

    I never used to hate clowns when I was young, but the movie “It” went a long way to making me begin to find them creepy

  36. 36.

    Cermet

    Chinese Panda propaganda using their Panda breeding mills isn’t something I support. Thought this was a decrease-stress thread?!

  40. 40.

    gogol's wife

    @debbie:

    No, I didn’t. I’ll have to catch that later somehow. I have to watch the Tonys, and I can’t stand more than a couple of hours of TV at a time.

  41. 41.

    Arclite

    I know Gawker gets a lot of hate, but their coverage of the shooting has been really good. For example, I hadn’t realized this was Obama’s 18th mass shooting address. Jesus.

  43. 43.

    sacrablue

    For further distraction, I have a kitty bleg in the works to send to Anne Laurie. Maybe he will be a welcome companion for someone that needs a purrball to get the Trump/terrorism/hate to go away. I can’t put this off any longer because he deserves a forever home.

  46. 46.

    Brachiator

    @redshirt:

    Were clowns considered scary before John Wayne Gacy?

    Yes. I have a woman friend who has always dreaded clowns. She backed out of an invitation to Cirque du Soleis that a bunch of people were going to because of this, and admitted that she had steadfastly avoided all family trips to the circus, etc. She asked me once “don’t you think clowns look sinister?”

    A co worker similarly dreads clowns. A friend will email him pics of clowns no and then just to rattle him.

  47. 47.

    Ruckus

    @schrodinger’s cat:
    As a young child I had a neighbor 2 doors down who was a clown. He also had a prosthetic leg, which may or may not be a part of the clown story but was interesting to a 7-8 yr old. I think he lost his leg in WWII but he didn’t want to discuss it so we moved on to clown stuff. I think knowing a neighbor who was just a clown made it far more normal and not scary. But I can see the scary side of it.

  53. 53.

    WaterGirl

    @gogol’s wife: I am catching up from the train, so I was too late to comment about the dreadful piece from Maureen dowd. I only read the excerpts elizabelle posted, but she really outdid herself on this one. I kept thinking this surely must be a parody! Unbelievable.

  54. 54.

    Keith G

    @redshirt:

    The real question is: Does anyone like clowns?

    Like ’em? Heck, I’ve dated a few.

    But being picked up for a date in that small car was a major hassle.

  55. 55.

    Ruckus

    @Keith G:
    I’ve seen a padded room, on a psych ward. It does not look like a calming place. I’d much prefer the book.

  56. 56.

    WaterGirl

    @Ruckus: I had a roommate who was a clown for ringling brothers before and after I lived with him. He was fun and funny and his clown face was happy and fun and sweet. But there seem to be a lot of what I call ‘serial killer clowns’thatbare creepy, creepy, creepy.

    I feel certain that the clown face you choose is a reflection of who you are. Kevin’s surely was.

  58. 58.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Perhaps this was mentioned in an earlier thread — I kind of walked away when I found myself getting very cranky and typing intemperate comments — but lost in all the Orlando coverage was news that George Voinovich died early today at 79. Yes, I know he was a Republican who had endorsed Kasich, but my sense of him is that he was one of the last of the “reasonable” Republicans. He served as Mayor of Cleveland as well as Ohio Governor and Senator. I don’t know much about him but he always seemed like a pretty decent guy and public servant.

  62. 62.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    but my sense of him is that he was one of the last of the “reasonable” Republicans.

    I would agree with that. I would never have voted for him for anything when I lived in Ohio, but he was simply a person with whom I disagreed about politics. Nothing like what has come after him.

  64. 64.

    Brachiator

    @Keith G:

    But being picked up for a date in that small car was a major hassle.

    It was probably always crowded, too.

  65. 65.

    burnspbesq

    For some reason, I’m finding it extremely funny that of our state’s 58 counties, Sanders ran up his biggest percentage margin in Humboldt.

  67. 67.

    germy

    There was an episode of the old Superman TV series (George Reeves) involving a clown and his evil-murderous clown double that ruined clowns for me forever.

  73. 73.

    germy

    All Aboard for Dementia Praecox

    It is a little terrifying, with all that I have to do this week, to discover that I have a dementia praecox into the bargain. “What next?” I often ask myself.

    There is no doubt about the dementia praecox. I’ve got it, all right. The only question now is, can I swing the other things that I have to face? A good case of dementia praecox is about enough for one week.

    I got my data from a report submitted at the American Psychiatric Association. This report said that dementia praecox can be helped by oxygen treatment. And, in passing, the report just happened to mention the symptoms of dementia praecox. Not that any of its readers would find it applicable to themselves—just in passing, you know.

    Early stages: (1) “Defective judgment.” Well, I could keep you here all night giving examples of my defective judgment that would make your blood curdle. I couldn’t even judge a sack-race. On this count I qualify hands down.

    (2) “Retarded perception.” I didn’t even know that the fleet was in until I read Time ten days later.

    (3) “Restrictions in the field of attention.” My attention can be held only by strapping me down to a cot and sitting on my chest. Even then my eyes wander.

    (4) “Deficiency of ethical inhibitions.” I took a course in ethics once, but I didn’t do very well in it. We didn’t know about “inhibitions” in my day. They came in with horn-rimmed glasses and Freud. We just said “Yes, please,” or “No, thanks,” and let it go at that. I don’t know whether I’ve got “ethical inhibitions” or not. Just try me once, that’s all.

    (5) “Silly laughter.” I hold the Interscholastic (New England), Intercollegiate, East Coast Amateur and Open Professional cups for silly laughter. I laugh at anything except a French clown. You can’t be sillier than that.

    * * * * *

    Among the more advanced symptoms of dementia praecox I find to my horror the following:

    (1) “Lack of skill in motor performance.” I was asked to surrender my license while driving an old Model T Ford in 1915 because I could not co-ordinate in time to press the clutch at just the right moment. I also had a little trouble with “right” and “left.” Next to “silly laughter,” “lack of skill in motor performance” is my forte.

    (2) “Stupor.” We need not go into this. The last thing that I remember clearly is that elaborate parade for Admiral Dewey under the arch at Twenty-third street. Since then I have more or less taken things easily. In addition, I can say only that there are hundreds of people willing to bet that I have never had my eyes open. I have no proof to the contrary.

    So dementia praecox it is, boys! And may the best man win!

    (Robert Benchley)

  74. 74.

    Brachiator

    @redshirt:

    I have always liked clowns, harlequins, and a few mimes (for example, the wonderful mime in the film, Children of Paradise). And I am looking forward to Harley Quinn in the upcoming movie, Suicide Squad. If you do a Google image search of clown, the top images are mostly horrific. And oddly enough the zany harlequins have a sinister origin.

    The name Harlequin is taken from that of a mischievous “devil” or “demon” character in popular French passion plays. It originates with an Old Frenchterm herlequin, hellequin, first attested in the 11th century, by the chronicler Orderic Vitalis, who recounts a story of a monk who was pursued by a troop of demons when wandering on the coast of Normandy at night.

  75. 75.

    debbie

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    He was decent enough to stick to the tradition, as all governors did until Kasich came along, of sleeping in the sheep barn (no AC) during the state fair.

  81. 81.

    Ruckus

    @schrodinger’s cat:
    Maybe it’s because I met this man before I saw him in makeup that I didn’t think he or the concept was scary. But I certainly understand why you or anyone could see clowns that way, I bet I would if it hadn’t been for this neighbor.

  82. 82.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    @jeffreyw:
    I bought three of Tom’s books on Amazon today: Vulcan, Einstein and Newton. I’m on a nonfiction kick after reading 14 volumes of crime fiction over the winter. maybe more. The fingerprints, train schedules and arcane clauses of British inheritance law all run together.
    Anyway Tom’s will keep me company through a couple of International trips coming up next month. If I don’t finish them first.

  83. 83.

    Lolis

    Queer
    Frank Bidart, 1939

    Lie to yourself about this and you will
    forever lie about everything.

    Everybody already knows everything

    so you can
    lie to them. That’s what they want.

    But lie to yourself, what you will

    lose is yourself. Then you
    turn into them.

    *

    For each gay kid whose adolescence

    was America in the forties or fifties
    the primary, the crucial

    scenario

    forever is coming out—
    or not. Or not. Or not. Or not. Or not.

    *

    Involuted velleities of self-erasure.

    *

    Quickly after my parents
    died, I came out. Foundational narrative

    designed to confer existence.

    If I had managed to come out to my
    mother, she would have blamed not

    me, but herself.

    The door through which you were shoved out
    into the light

    was self-loathing and terror.

    *

    Thank you, terror!

    You learned early that adults’ genteel
    fantasies about human life

    were not, for you, life. You think sex

    is a knife
    driven into you to teach you that.

  85. 85.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    I saw Marcel Marceau in a big auditorium and was not frightened. But every other clown-related person just puzzles me. Never funny, frequently awkward and completely baffling.

  87. 87.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    Yeah, I’m familiar with the Newton story from Neil Stephenson and (I think) Bill Bryson. Also the penalty for debasing the Kings currency was really really nasty. But Newton was a fascinating guy. Can’t recall whet else I read about him recently.
    ETA: Johnson’s ‘Intellectuals’ maybe? Brain tired. Not think.

  88. 88.

    maya

    Clowns are like dentists in the fear world. It all depends on what your first experience was with either. My first dentist was great. I especially liked the cherry flavored mouth wash he had to spit with in the swirling bowl. Very cool.
    And who didn’t like Clarabell on the Howdy Doody show.

    Of course, the big assed clowns with Cirque Du Soleil are a little much.

  90. 90.

    jeffreyw

    @WaterGirl: Hmm… it’s been a little while since I started out, but iirc you have to sign up for a free account. There are several subscription tiers that do cost money but with the free account you can access the daily deal without paying the monthly fee, just the one-time charge for the book. I do think the subscription is a pretty good deal because there are a lot of offers for audio books that are pretty cheap. I’ve taken advantage of many that went for less than $5 per.

  92. 92.

    jeffreyw

    @Ultraviolet Thunder: Audible offers an “Audible match price” for books you have already purchased through Amazon. You get the unabridged audio version for $3.95 for most, a few of the more popular titles cost more. Amazon can sync your place across all the media types.

  94. 94.

    WaterGirl

    @jeffreyw: hmmm. Good info! I had to sign up and choose my free book, but I didn’t want toms book for free because it’s so cheap today. Too complicated from my iPad on the train, I hope I remember to sign up before I go to bed tonight. Thanks

  95. 95.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    @jeffreyw:
    That’s good to know. My wife uses audiobooks and e-books. I’m pretty much a used paperback guy because I travel constantly and give away a book as soon as I finish with (what’s left of) it.

  98. 98.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    @Keith G:

    What authors did you like most?

    Dorothy L. Sayers (the later books mostly) and Jill Paton Walsh. I read them all. Very enjoyable.

  99. 99.

    Brachiator

    @redshirt:

    Have you seen the movie “Shakes the Clown”?

    No. I’ve heard good things about it, but could never overcome my general dislike for Bobcat Goldthwait.

  102. 102.

    WaterGirl

    @raven: holy fuck. I knew he was an alcoholic and had issues. Wow. Her husband is the one who was killed? Will go back and read it again. Thanks for the heads up.

    Don’t they have at least one daughter together?

  103. 103.

    Miss Bianca

    @Adam L Silverman: Yeah, right. The BJ community gets cute doggie and panda videos. *I* get scary clowns. Oh, well…at least you’re threatening everyone else with that horrible movie now, too. There’s *some* justice in the world.//

    @Omnes Omnibus: Ooh, they’re doing “King Lear” too, I see…

  105. 105.

    jeffreyw

    @WaterGirl: When you choose a “free” book for signing up I think you are also subscribing for a monthly fee. It’s been too long for me to remember just how I worked it but you can open an account that does not obligate you to the subscription fee. As I said before, though, the subscription allow you access to special deals they run. The daily deal is separate from the other specials.

  106. 106.

    PurpleGirl

    @Villago Delenda Est: Donna Rose is wonkeadorable. She is so cute. Thanks for posting a link. Although at some point in the future, Donna Rose may very well ask her mother… posting that picture of me being born…. what were you thinking?

  107. 107.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: @redshirt: No. The original incarnation of the Joker, often drawn by classic Batman artist Dick Sprang in an uncredited assignment, was more of a trickster character. The Joker we think of today is the result of Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke and Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns and the execrable All Star Batman and Robin, though he had begun to trend this way when based on the voting by readers the Joker killed Jason Todd the second Robin. This joker is a much more violent and sadistic character. In the most recent iterations the Joker is taken even farther into full fledged psychopathic force of nature. Apparently DC is going to deal with this in the new Rebirth adjustment to continuity by revealing that there have been three different Jokers over time. The impression is that each of these is the three different variants over the years.

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